Space exploration: Hall of Fame astronaut Fred Gregory will visit LSU this month to speak about his personal space exploration experience and to present the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation scholarship to two high achieving LSU students. According to a news release, the award was created by the six surviving astronauts of Mercury 7 to encourage students to pursue scientific endeavors that keep the nation on the leading edge of technology. LSU physics majors Harvey Shows of Covington and Amy LeBleu of Baton Rouge are the recipients of the scholarship. Gregory, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2004, will present the awards to Shows and LeBleu on Friday, March 17, at 11:30 a.m. at the Club at LSU Union Square. Read more.
Deal reached: A settlement agreement has been reached in a federal lawsuit that accuses Louisiana state regulators of racially discriminating against a group of Vietnamese-American nail salon owners.The Associated Press reports that court filings on Wednesday do not disclose the terms of the deal. Also, attorneys for the state and for four Vietnamese-American salon owners didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment today. The plaintiffs alleged that Vietnamese-owned businesses account for just 9% of the roughly 7,500 salons regulated by the state agency, including hair salons, but paid at least 80% of all board-imposed fines in each year between 2011 and 2013. Lawyers for the Louisiana State Board of Cosmetology and two agency inspectors denied there was any evidence of racial bias in their regulatory activities. Read more.
Top performer: Thomson Reuters Lipper Analytics has ranked a mutual fund backed by the research of Tulane University students as one of the best performing funds in the nation. According to a news release, the Hancock Horizon Burkenroad Small Cap Fund tops the list of funds ranked in the small cap blended fund category, based upon its performance since 2001. The Burkenroad Fund has outperformed the 237 funds in the category over a 15-year period, having a rate of return that’s more than 99% of all equity mutual funds during this time. Hancock Horizon Investment manages the fund and makes all the investment decisions using research from Burkenroad Reports. Tulane students function as analysts who visit the companies, meet with senior management and write detailed equity research reports. Read more.
